From the late 14th to the late 19th century, the diagnosis
apoplexy referred to any sudden death that began with abrupt loss of consciousness, especially when the victim died within seconds after losing consciousness. The word
apoplexy was sometimes used to refer to the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death.
Strokes, ruptured
aortic aneurysms, and even
heart attacks were referred to as apoplexy in the past, because before the advent of
biomedical science, the ability to differentiate abnormal conditions and diseased states was limited.
Physiology, as a medical field, dates back at least to the time of
Hippocrates, but before the late 19th century, physicians often had inadequate or inaccurate understandings of many of the human body's normal functions and abnormal presentations. Hence, identifying a specific cause of a symptom or of death often proved difficult or impossible. ==Hemorrhage==